Idealism and Political Hot Takes

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I wanted to bring this up during our Harkness discussion on Thursday, but I didn't get the chance to. On page 43, Santiago says "I'm like everyone else — I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does." I bring this up to highlight how self-aware he is of how idealistic he is. In a sense, it seems that he's being realistic with his perception of the world.

I think the outlook that he has is the best of both worlds. It's important, no doubt, to stay positive with our perception, but its important to be cognizant of our biases. Even more so than our outlook on the world, knowing our biases is important with our introspection. 

This brings us to my topic of this blog post: Donald Trump. I used to believe that Donald Trump was an intelligent man — a grandmaster of 4d chess — who would lie and say stupid things to play the masses and make more money. In some sense, that's true. Take for example the Woodward tapes where Trump openly admits how deadly the Coronavirus is, yet he chose to downplay it to the people. But I digress. My real focus here is on when he isn't cognizant of his biases.

It came out a few months ago from the people working with Trump that Trump has a very "woe-is-me" attitude. All the issues in the world are happening to him, and him only. He exclaims how the Coronavirus is destroying his economy! Definitely not the same economy that Obama fixed after the Great Recession. 

His attitude requires people to constantly cheer him up. For example, staffers make Trump support videos showing his supporters to boost his mood or bringing up less relevant political wins for him. 

Honestly Mr. Trump, if you're reading this, I implore you to take a more realistic view on the world. Not everything comes from your perception. The world is happening regardless of if your eyes are opened. 

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